Cruelty is, in theory, a perfectly adequate ground for divorce, but it may be interpreted so as to become absurd.
Interpretation
Cruelty can justify divorce, but its interpretation can lead to unreasonable situations.
In this quote, Bertrand Russell suggests that while cruelty can be a valid reason for ending a marriage, the way people interpret and apply this concept can sometimes lead to absurd conclusions. This highlights the complexities and subjective nature of human relationships and the challenges in defining what constitutes cruelty in the context of marriage.
In practice
In a discussion about difficult marriages, this quote can highlight the importance of understanding nuances in relationships.
St. Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.
Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.
At all times, except when a monarch could enforce his will, war has been facilitated by the fact that vigorous males, confident of victory, enjoyed it, while their females admired them for their prowess.
Moreover, the attitude that one ought to believe such and such a proposition, independently of the question whether there is evidence in its favor, is an attitude which produces hostility to evidence and causes us to close our minds to every fact that does not suit our prejudices.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
One of the things that people complain about is loneliness, disconnectedness. If you live in a society where your life is rarely threatened and most of your relationships are more on an economic exchange basis, then this could leave people feeling less connected.
A lot of times, we talk about black people as if being black is all they are. They get up, go to work... and are as complex and interesting and variable as any other group of people. We don't often capture that or write about it.
It was never my intention to marry anybody. Economics are basically the only reason to get married, but I'm very glad I did it.
As soon as love became the driving force behind marriage, people began to demand the right to remain single if they had not found love or to divorce if they fell out of love.
Basic human contact - the meeting of eyes, the exchanging of words - is to the psyche what oxygen is to the brain. If you're feeling abandoned by the world, interact with anyone you can.
Our goal is to create a quality of empathic connection that allows everyone's needs to be met.
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